BILLS, BILLS & MORE BILLS…

Dr Marius Barnard founded Critical Illness Insurance following his brother, Professor Christiaan Barnard’s, work with heart transplant patients. He saw that survivors of critical illness fell through the cracks as their quality of life suffered due to mounting debt from costly medication, further treatment and/or possible modifications to the home.

Thanks to medical advancement there are much higher rates of survival nowadays, but the cost of treatment and recovery is high, leaving your savings and other assets depleted. Access to drugs can be dependent on where you live, leaving some people no option but to purchase them privately.

The average age for a Critical Illness claim is 45 (Scottish Equitable claims report Jan - Dec 2007)

Information Courtesy of Scottish Equitable (period Jan – Dec 2007)

More than 44,500 women are diagnosed with breast cancer in the UK each year. One in nine women will develop breast cancer at some time during their lifetime. (Cancer Research UK website, June 2008)

More recently children have become the fourth highest reason for claiming. (Scottish Provident claims report Jan to June 2007). Many of the better policies offer cover for children of the insured.

Critical Illness policies usually pay you a lump sum:

• on diagnosis of a range of critical illnesses
• if you become permanently disabled
• if you need a specific named operation.

They are not dependent on you being unable to work. This is relevant as you may be diagnosed with a critical illness like some forms of cancer but be able work for several years before the condition forces you to leave your employment altogether.

You can obtain cover for Critical Illness on a stand alone basis and it is also available with Term or Whole of Life policies.

IMPORTANT – Not all providers policy conditions are the same so make sure you read the conditions carefully to see what range of illnesses are covered by their policy. We constantly research the providers to ensure the definitions are the best available at the time. It is better to avoid grey areas on definitions and select a company that has a good history on paying out claims.

Experience has shown that proper planning and superior products should be chosen for the long term, rather than signing up for the cheapest price. We will help you determine what cover you need, what sort of policy you need (type of job you do) and help find the most suitable and cost effective insurance company.

Testimonial

“We are very grateful that you brought these policies to our attention as we may have not looked at them otherwise. Although it does not resolve the illness, having finance has helped us to brave our family life without the hardship we could have had. The policy payouts have greatly reduced the worry and stress that we otherwise would have experienced and has allowed us to focus on the most important factors – our family life and healthcare, rather than mortgage and loan repayments”.

Ralph & Sarah Bailey

See also Life Assurance & Income Protection

Dr Marius Barnard developed the first Critical Illness Insurance policy. This was motivated by his concern for the financial plight of his patients who survived a critical illness but suffered financially.

Since developing the product in 1983, Marius has played a major role in both the development and successful promotion of these policies around the world, assisting product providers and helping Financial Advisers and their clients accept and understand critical illness insurance.

Educated in South Africa, Zimbabwe and the USA he was a member of the team headed by his brother Christiaan that performed the world’s first human to human heart transplant in 1967.